Genetic Modification Produces Mighty Mouse
Identity Missing writes "An Ohio laboratory has produced genetically modified mice which 'can run five to six kilometres at a speed of 20 meters per minute on a treadmill, for up to six hours before stopping,' as well as a number of other remarkable feats. An enzyme called phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases (PEPCK-C) is apparently responsible, and we should hope that the scientists are correct in saying that athletes won't be modifying their genes any time soon to get it, because it apparently makes the mice more aggressive. If anyone feels a super villain coming on, at least we can rely on these Mighty Mice. A video demonstrates just how much these little guys beat the competition."
The Same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to take over the world.
Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature.
Welcome to our Mighty mouse overlords!
Someone will just have to build a better mousetrap!
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
That's a mind-boggling 0.745645431 mph!
hope that these rodents don't escape the lab.
Ordinary mice are hard enough to control as pests...
Acme Labs is at it again?
More aggressive? Sounds like what this actually does is produce testosterone or something equivalent, not better muscles/hearts directly.
...don't make them angry. You wouldn't like them when they are angry...
If you'd just do what we tell you and quit yer gripin' everything would be chocolate sprinkles and rainbows! -AC
That's only 2/100 of a mile per hour faster than the average Slashdotter!
I'm waiting for a "-1 somepeoplejustshouldn'tgetmodprivileges" meta-moderation.
In Soviet Russia, meme botches you!
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
... welcome our small squeaking high-powered overlords.
(It had to be done)
Overclocked mice! Do they have an overheat problem?
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard? I had no idea it could be applied for this purpose!
Comment of the year
I have a mighty mouse, yet it can't "run five to six kilometres at a speed of 20 meters per minute on a treadmill", feel aggression, or do "a number of other remarkable feats". All it does is sit in my hand and make clicking noises when I try to pet it. It runs a lot longer than "six hours", but it doesn't seem to do anything else. It doesn't seem to have any eyes or a tail either. I think it might be defective... maybe I should return it to Apple.
athletes won't be modifying their genes any time soon to get it, because it apparently makes the mice more aggressive.
Athletes? Who cares about them? We need to apply this to super-powered soldiers that can run all over the world aggressively killing anything and everything in their path!
Forget about ROID RAGE, now we have PEPCK APOPLECTICISM!
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I think the point isn't the speed, but the distance they can cover without stopping.
I've always wondered what would be possible if humans were regularly experimented on in the same fashion. Of course it's unethical, but I bet we'd have humans that can live 300 years and run 10,000 miles at a clip if we cut out the middle man ;)
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
So the modified mouse runs on the treadmill for six hours, while the normal mouse has a nice sit down and watches it. Maybe this modification just makes mice stupid.
All I see is the that the "slower" mouse realizes that they're going nowhere on the treadmill.
internet like monkeys'
Mighty Mouse is on his way!
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
Do you really think a couple of hyperactive mice are going to stop General Zod?
You guys really need to check your definition of what a super villain is.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
"If anyone feels a super villain coming on"
Like in a bar? should I be worried about getting touched by evil people? Are genetically modified mice really my only line of defense?
These mice may be quick enough to not only get the cheese but also leave a tip. And if you piss them off they will move the loaded mousetrap onto your bedroom floor.
Superior abilities breed superior ambition.
Watch your cheese!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Ten times as many mitochondria in the muscles.
We're gonna need a bigger trap.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I see little reason to think that we'll see any social arguments about this genetic modification that we don't already see about a) steroids, hormones, and precursors or b) genetic modifications in general.
Isn't this linked to the Wired article from over three years ago about experiments at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in which researchers were messing with PPAR-delta and got similar results? Where's the reference to earlier work on the subject?
Originally genetic modification was just things like making mice glow. Now they're creating results that would be appealing to exactly the wrong people: the military.
As soon as a science has military application it gets billions poured into it. Even if there are beneficial offshoots to the research that follows the repercussions are usually awful. Think atom bombs and biological weapons.
It is not unreasonable at this point to wonder where we're going to end up as a species. If we can genetically create human beings with abilities that far outpace anything an unmodified can do will that become the norm?
In my lifetime (40 years) genetic modification has gone from theory to fact. I am worried that it will be horribly abused.
Yes, but what... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen genetically modified with PEPCK-C swallow?
Layne
Nigel Tufnel: These mice all go to eleven. Look, right across the treadmill, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most mice go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's more resistant? Is it any more resistant?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one more resistant, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most scientist, you know, will be chasing tens. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your lab. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One more resistant.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten more resistant and make ten be the top number and make that a little more resistant?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.
My 0.02 cents
That means when they turn evil or zombie they wont stop chewing on you for a long time unlike standard mice.
These super mice in zombie form could completely consume your body instead of leaving a brainless corpse like regular zombie mice do.
'can run five to six kilometres at a speed of 20 meters per minute on a treadmill, for up to six hours before stopping'
20 meters per minute = 1.2 km/h, so if they do it for 6 km's, that's about 5 hours
but i find the redundant data a bit stupid (not to mention the weird unit for speed, just use m/s or km/h, something we're used to seeing).
After all the "Mighty Mouse" is a trademark of Apple Computer.
Any improvement over Apple's Mighty Mouse would be good. I mean squeezing the sides to activate button '4'. Come on!
Or 1.2 Km/h.
Everybody knows how the story goes: after mighty mouse experiments, both Russia ans the states turn to secret experiments to build human superheroes for the army, and it ends up in WW3, the world being destroyed and a new kind of humanity in search of a new planet: The One
Rick Veitch saw this coming, twenty years ago!
I was on the pursuit of this mouse that lived in my place for about 4 months up until I finally killed it by dropping something on it....luckily nothing splattered. that thing was a pain in the ass to get rid of. it wouldn't fall for mouse traps so I actually had to hunt it.
We came,we saw, we kicked it's ass!
Anyone else remember this from SpiderMan? The serum that is used on Norman Oswald was first used on mice to turn them into super mice, but had the side effect of making them incredibly aggressive....
They're also Mice. An ant can lift 50x its own body weight... even if that's only a few grams. A flea can jump X it's own length, even if that's only a few feet.
./ers walk that, let alone run at a pace like this mouse has done.
Still 6km is over 3.5 miles. I'd like to see the majority of
Are there any side effects, such as sudden death?
Captain America and the super-soldier serum.
Pissed off after someone makes me run for 6 hours on a treadmill ,,,,,,
The Energizer battery company would pay big $ for such a LIVING mascot.
With all that $, they'll be able to fund future research...
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
I'll get off my soapbox now and watch this get modded down to troll status. Wow... Maybe you should use an OS that's better supported, like Linux. The
Do not anger the worm.
Did anyone else think of that shrimp video where it's running on the treadmill to the Yakety Sax music?
Unisol!
A european or african swallow?
As long as none of them were named Jenner or Nicodemus, I think we are safe. (as yes I realize they were rats in the book/movie).
Apple Inc. produces Mighty Mouse
There, fixed that outdated headline for you.
Mice with friggin' lasers on their foreheads ? Lasermice ? .. .. they had to adapt!
Sharks were not so mobile on dry lands anyways
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Does it come with two buttons?
No the supervillains are the guys that got treated in the secret human program run last year, which proved to make them psychotic too. Now they are running extra mouse trials so they can make it public as a CYA.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of mighty mice with lasers on their heads ..Btw anybody know how many dpi these mice are ?
While atomic bombs and biological weapons are 'terrible', in terms of overall damage and pain/suffering they don't compare to conventional explosives (which no calls inhumane). And in terms of nuclear technology, I imagine the nuclear research was easily worth the terrible cost in lives (an invasion of japan/extended war would likely have had many more casualties and affected lives) and will eventually touch more lives in a positive fashion (if it hasn't already) through the gains to society. Biological weapons have historically just been useful as a scare tactic, when used they do horrible things to the people they do affect but arn't really viable weapons even if they didn't have terrible side effects (problems with dispersal, keeping it from affecting your own people/troops/etc). I would also imagine a ton of research could have been banned to prevent biological weapons from ever being created. I also imagine far more people would have died from disease/hunger/etc due to whatever positive creation came to light before someone decided the knowledge could be abused.
Researching anything for almost any use is fine in my book. Creating things from gained knowledge for the sole purpose of Evil(TM) is bad. Stunting research for fear of such Evil(TM) is almost just as bad. As a species if we're going to survive in a geographic time scale, we're going to need to learn alot more. To make a nice random equality, it's like giving up our freedoms in fear that someone might abuse them to hurt us. Is the possibility of far less than a percent of the population suffering something they shouldn't have to worth 100% of the population suffering something different?
A direct link to a Quicktime movie on the headline and the host server didn't get slashdotted? I wonder if they applied the same genetic modification to the server?
it's not ok to decide to sacrifice someone life for a good cause without their knowledge
it is 100% ok to volunteer to have your life sacrificied for a good cause
it is very important to understand and discern the difference between these two scenarios
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
You might have the Microsoft version connected, ..
once it bites in your USB plug you'll never be able to unplug it
That happens when you don't think about Mice-World-Domination!
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
According to TFA, and a comment above mine, they still reproduce at 3 years, which is the equivalent of 80 human years. This makes the most sense, to me, if the aging process is mainly driven by the breakdown of mitochondria as animals age. This also fits with the calorie restriction data available. What I would love to know is: what is the mitochondria count in their non-muscle cells, can the process be tweaked to produce different mitochondria levels so that we can test for senescence as a function of age and mitochondrial density, are there any other drawbacks beyond the obvious increase in food demand and reduction in sociability, and how well do these mice do on various calorie restriction diets (ie is the increase in life-span greater or lesser than for normal mice)?
Am I the only one who remembers that mice are the most intelligent life on earth?
It begins with Mice, but we quickly escalate to Gerbils.
The gay supervillain thinks he's insering a normal Gerbil, butt he inserts the GM-Uber-Gerbil and that's the end of him.
It's only about a one-hour walk or half-hour jog. Everybody over 12 and under 60 should be *really* concerned if they don't manage to do it.
If you're talking about scaling this up according to size/weight differences, it becomes a whole different deal. Estimating a mouse's length at about 15 cm and a person's at 2 meters, one had to make some 84 kilometers at 14 km/h. For comparison: A marathon is some 42 kilometers and done (world record) in two hours and a few minutes. I don't know too much about human stamina and so on, but when scaled up those little beasts might have themselves a photofinish against human world champs.
we should hope that the scientists are correct in saying that athletes won't be modifying their genes any time soon to get it, because it apparently makes the mice more aggressive.
Is it just me being paranoid or does anyone else see the obvious application of an ultra-resistant hyper-aggressive human? Isn't a soldier capable of running for hours without stopping while killing everyone on his/her path without doubt or remorse one of those weapons that make generals and politicians dream wet dreams of a war to end all wars?
that's what makes them possible
all the experiments are doing is letting loose the maximum potential of the mouse. mother nature, evolution, purposefully attenuates this potential for an obvious reason: this mouse outruns, outlives, outreproduces... and OUTEATS normal mice
put this supermouse in the wild, and it will be quickly dead. because real mice face an enormous food resource pressure. and so it pays in the wild to need very little food, even when this reduces your overall capacity in other avenues of your existence. this supermouse will quickly starve to death with muscles that burn through calories like a jet engine set on maximum thrust
of course in contemporary human society, we greatly admire these mice. because we, like the supermice, have defeated the limitation of scarce food sources in our existence. we have all the food we could ever want to eat. and so we are all fat. in human history, this condition on a large scale is very rare, if nonexistent. throughout most of our evolutionary history, we've been faced with food shortages. and so our full potentials have been genetically self-limited to survive
if we could eat mcdonalds all day every day and run 5 marathons a week, then go home and screw our girlfriends for 8 hours straight (who can get pregnant at age 65)... solve AIDS and the Riemann Hypothesis before we nod off for the 3 hours of sleep we only need every night, AND live to the age of 175, we would want this mouse genetic modifcation too
becuase we don't have limitations on our food supply, and the self-limitation evolution has given us to survive meager diets is not useful to us anymore
and therefore, our grandchildren probably will get this modification someday
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
A domestic cat can run at speeds of 30 mph.
Reduce, reuse, cycle
They created Speedy Gonzales? Let's make a real Road Runner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadrunner) next time! Nature definitely sucks.
Stupidity is the root of all evil.
FATMOUSE MAKES EVERYTHING A LOT BETTER. HE DOESN'T MAKE THINGS. HE MAKES THEM BETTER.
Fatmouse cares not about your stupid lameness filter. Fatmouse must ramble on and on and on in lower-case letters to get past filter. Fatmouse cannot be stopped by any filter.
FATMOUSE MUST FEED.
sudo eat my shorts
Not so fast, you super-athlete wanna-bes.
According to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphenolpyruvate_carboxykinase
over expression of this gene also causes type II diabetes. Not a great trade off.
However, it's also interesting, according to the article, that these mice have a lot more mitochondria, and they live longer. That would tend to support the mitochondrial theory of aging, which says, basically, that cells get old because their mitochondria wear out.
But Professor Hanson played this down. "Right now, this is impossible to do - putting a gene into muscle. It's unethical.
I'm tired of people claiming that it's "unethical" to enhance one's body--or destroy it for that matter. What substances I ingest or what modifications I make to my body is my own business. Even genetic modifications to one's own children aren't automatically "unethical".
Genetic engineering on humans is going to happen. Get over it.
Well, there goes my porn career...
becuase we don't have limitations on our food supply, and the self-limitation evolution has given us to survive meager diets is not useful to us anymore
I don't know exactly where you live or who you are, but maybe it would be useful if you could specify who are "we" in the sentence "we don't have limitations on our food supply". Because anyone with a fraction of a normal mouse's intelligence would think food scarcity is a very serious problem for at least 80% of humanity. At this very minute, all over the planet. Or maybe you should expand you information sources.
for those of you in the hindu kush and the serengeti tuning into this slashdot discussion
the western world is what my words applied to
you know: lard asses, walmart, SUVs, stripmalls, and starbucks?
you know: the only places that would even vaguely care about this mouse research, and where this mouse research is taking place, and where 90% of the readers of this website reside?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Nuclear energy research is good. Think x-rays of your teeth, broken bones. And that's just the tip of the nuclear medicine iceberg.
They ARE out to get you simply because They are in it for themselves and they don't care about you.
Maybe the "we" the GP was referring to is the same "we" that has the luxury to not only read but post to slashdot. There is no problem with food shortages that are not directly and purposefully caused by human beings.
I find it funny how the summary suggest the mice'll protect us from supervillains.
Being that the modification makes them more aggressive I think these mice will BE the supervillains.
What do you mean, an African or European swallow?
A quick Googling unearthed some interesting articles about "super strength" effects in humans:
"Mighty mouse" gene found in humans
Rare condition gives toddler super strength
"that's great if that's all you want to run. what you won't be able to run is any real apps."
Yeah because we all know that Linux lives only in the land of make believe and only fictional applications run on Linux.
Get real, the original poster was running a 7 year old unsupported operating system (that initially wasn't even meant to run as a desktop system no less). Linux is supported by an active community. Further, you can find viable alternatives to most applications that are capable of being run on Linux. Your FUD is old and tired, please lay it to rest.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
"Mighty Mice" Made Mightier
Quadrupling Muscle Mass
I more a fan of COKE-ORG.
It's the PAX!
This sounds exactly like how Normal Osborne turned into the Green Goblin in the movie...
Try and make me run on a treadmill for 6 hours and I would be pretty aggressive too.
The unnatural body posture of the "modified" mouse may be caused by strings. Lifting the mouse slighly, reducing fatigue due to its own weight? ... *hmmm*
One cannot be too skeptical these days -- bad quality vid.
Ok, so they can run 3/4 mph for several hours. I find it annoying that the summary doesn't indicate in any regard how this compares to "normal" mice... for all I know normal mice are capable of running 80% of this speed for longer. Yes I could read the article and probably find out, but I just think there's some low-hanging fruit here in terms of enticement that the summary could and should be including.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Does that mean that it will last longer one I got with my iMac?
But didn't quicktime work with it at some point in the past? Is there some reason why users should be obligated to always buy a newer OS when they already have one working?
(that initially wasn't even meant to run as a desktop system no less)
Yeah, because we all know that windows NT workstation was never intended for desktop use, either, right?
Just their "normal" cousins.
For both food and shelter.
Until they decided that its time to start teaming up and hunting cats...
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Quick and strong ones run around after the ball and each other the whole day, while "normals" sit at home and watch them do it on the TV.
Normals seem much smarter. Or at least more civilized.
Until you see how much cheese and "privileges" those ball chasers get.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Does anyone know how they motivated the mice to keep running like this? The mice were trying their best to get on the treadmill again and again even after falling. Very impressive
...but is it a case of here I come to save the day?
Stupid thing to note: this was the only Google hit for the words of the Mighty Mouse cartoon.
You kids. You've spoiled the internets with your "can i has cheezburger" and your disco music stealing. Get off my lawn.
Shiny. Let's be bad guys...
Cheap AND easy to get.
Chain their legs together, or just chain them to the house.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
First time a non-computer TFA answers a meme!
Mighty mice does not run Linux. They run 20m/min treadmills.
I lost my sig.
Sure, we could have the positive effects of long life and faster running speed.
But the genetic engineering could bring about side effects like... I don't know, dry mouth, headaches, constipation, and peeing a corrosive acid that could instantly dissolve steel.
/* No Comment */
I think there is prior art: http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/ ;)
as if that has anything to do with this subject matter
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
20 (meters per minute) = 0.745645431 mph
that doesn't seem very fast for a mouse. Maybe running for 6 hours is amazing though.
Mice can run up to 4 Kilometers per hour this is around 2.48548477 mph
See: http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/figsonly/207/22/3839
So they are running at around 30% of there maximum speed.
To put that into some perspective humans walk at around 3mph. and sprint for short distances at 20 Mph.
A 4 Minute mile is 15 Mph, this is considered very good for a runner.
The Marathon world record time running a 42.195 kilometers distance is 2 hours 4 minutes and 26 seconds, set in the Berlin Marathon by Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia on September 30, 2007.
This required an average speed of 13 Miles per hour for 2 hours. Just amazing really.
For regular humans in a Marathon the average time is more like to 4 hours or around 6.5 Mph.
http://www.marathonguide.com/features/Articles/2005RecapOverview.cfm
So to compare this with mice a humans peak is 15Mph (4 minute Mile) so 30% of peak is is 4.5 Mph.
This accomplishment for mice is roughly equal to humans running at 4.5 Mph for 6 hours. for 27 miles or 43.452 kilometers just over a marathon distance. 6 Hour times are well below average and would be the slow runners in a marathon.
So the mice are running a slow Marathon! Well below a human average.
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
Genetic engineering on humans is going to happen, And it should. Get over it.
I think that's better.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Fast, angry mice that starve to death in a short time...
Fast, angry zombies that starve to death in a short time...
stronger in one thing ussually means weaker in something else:
If you see in one creature an exceptional trait
In some way bestowed, then ask at once where it suffers
Elsewhere some lack, and search with investigative spirit.
At once you will find to each form the key,
For never did beast, with all kinds of teeth his upper
Jaw bone bedecking, bear horns on its forehead,
And therefore a horned lion the eternal mother
Could not possibly fashion though she apply her full strength;
For she has not mass enough, rows of teeth
To fully implant and antlers and horns to push forth.
(Goethe, Metamorphosis of Animals)
Etch-A-Wretch...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Pretty soon they'll have ones with scroll wheels and two buttons. Coated in silver. With lasers. And blackjack. And hookers. In fact forget the mouse.
pfffffffft
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Uh. 4-6 hours at 20 meters per minute... Let's show how absolutely ridiculously fast that is:
20 meters/minute * 60 minutes/hour / 1609.344 meters/mile = 14.9129 mph
The world record for a marathon (26.218757mi) is 2:06:20, set in Amsterdam in 2005, which is 26.218757 miles / 2.105556 hours = 12.45218 mph
Since the mouse can keep that pace for 4-6 hours, it could run a marathon in 1:45:29.25 (26.218757/14.9129) and then keep going at the same pace for another few hours. That's really really fast.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
sounds like we have the solution to our energy crisis...
...Welcome our new Mighty Mousy overlords.
To be fair, they don't have the brain power required for that level of consent.
Just -1, Troll talking to another.
http://www.khaaan.com/
-------
...''
''They've been experimenting on you I'm afraid.'', said Slartibartfast
Arthur thought about this for a second, and then his face
cleared.
''Ah no,'' he said, ''I see the source of the misunderstanding now.
No, look you see, what happened was that we used to do
experiments on them. They were often used in behavioral
research, Pavlov and all that sort of stuff. So what happened was
hat the mice would be set all sorts of tests, learning to ring
bells, run around mazes and things so that the whole nature of
the learning process could be examined. From our observations of
their behavior we were able to learn all sorts of things about
our own
Arthur's voice tailed off.
-------
We miss ya DNA.
carboxykickassness.
I for one welcome our new genetically modified super mouse overlords...
You are way off, sir. I don't think there are 1609.344 meters in one mile. More like 6 BILLION!!!!!11
(20m/60s * 3.2808ft/m) = 1.0936ft/s * (3600s/h) / (5280 ft/mile) = 0.745636 mph (or 0.745645431 miles per hour according to google's calculator; I used mIRC's $calc()).
A bit slower than the Boston Marathon's cut-off time, I think.
Are these people out of their minds? Producing a super mouse?! As if regular mice aren't enough of a problem. So make a mouse that runs super fast and can't be caught by cats. And eats 2.6 times as much as normal mice that already munch through a significant percentage of harvested grain in India and other places. And reproduces long after normal mice have finished their reproductive cycles.
INSANE!
So what are these guys going to do or say if or when these super-mice escape into the wild and start causing serious ecological problems? "Ah jeez, we're sorry! we didn't think something like this could happen!"
Ecologically responsible scientists DON'T create super-versions of problem animals in their labs and then act proud of it. What schmucks!
So what's next from these bozos? Super rats? Super mosquitos? Super gophers? Super moles? Beavers that can run like tigers and can bite a child's leg off?
Just because you CAN create a super version of a problem animal doesn't mean that you SHOULD do such a stupid thing. Don't these guys ever read sci-fi? Or do they believe that their doctorates make them incapable of doing stupid things?
It will run around like crazy for two months and then its neck will suddenly snap, requiring a fiddly operation to get it running again.
erm... has anyone seen 28 days later?
Will it Blend?
A big wheel at the city dump connected to a generator, and we're in business.
from the abstract ( http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/abstract/282/45/32844 )
On a mouse treadmill,
PEPCK-Cmus mice ran up to 6 km at a speed of 20 m/min, whereas controls stopped at 0.2 km.
6 Km vs 0.2 - thats a big difference !!
PEPCK-Cmus mice had an enhanced exercise capacity, with a VO2max of 156 ± 8.0 ml/kg/min, a maximal respiratory exchange ratio of 0.91 ± 0.03, and blood lactate of 3.7 ± 1.0 mM after running for 32 min at a 25 grade
control animals were 112 ± 21 ml/kg/min, 0.99 ± 0.08, and 8.1 ± 5.0 mM respectively.
The PEPCK-Cmus mice ate 60% more than controls but had half the body weight and 10% the body fat as determined by magnetic resonance imaging.
"athletes won't be modifying their genes any time soon to get it, because it apparently makes the mice more aggressive."
How is that different from Roid Rage, which hasn't stopped many athletes?
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
They should race these super mice against those genetically engineered fat mice they made a few years ago. We could be along a spread.
Anyone who can't walk 3.5mi seriously needs to rethink their health.
I'm a runner though so maybe I'm biased.
Gone!
Kind of reminds me of the Augments from Star Trek. Combine that with the mutation that drops myostatin levels, increases muscle mass and also happens to decrease aggression. Hopefully, you'd have a super strong and fast creature/person with normal aggression.
*It's not what you can do for the Dark Side but what the Dark Side can do for you!*
http://video.google.ca/videosearch?q=PEPCK-C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfXUVReySs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6oxXwBsD1U
Health? This is Slashdot.
They seriously need to rethink about which gene modifying substances they should be consuming.
Anyway, there are already mice with super regeneration abilities. And also super strong ones.
Wonder what the drawbacks would be if you add all the mods together - regen, strength, stamina, brains.
If it's just needing a lot more food and a 10% shorter lifespan, then some people may be willing to pay the price.
Sounds like an environmentally friendly way to produce electricity. I wonder how many mice would be needed to power a house. Maybe mice are too small so how about creating super chickens and somehow get them to run on treadmills. The animal rights activists would be happy to see the chickens getting some exercise and I'm sure millions of super chickens could produce a some decent wattage. Could be good for the Chicken Run movie sales as well.
ayottesoftware.com
You're right. I've been a fool. We all have. By appearing cute and harmless, the killer kitties have lulled us into a false sense of security. Lucky we have guys like you who are smart enough to see through their cunning feline ways. God bless you, and mankind too!
At the bottom of the
If the scientists actually did this, why is the article adorned with Balok and not Einstein?
Here I come to save the day!
Mighty Mouse will use his powers for good. Right?
Its about time Case gets some notoriety.
Congrats on making slashdot,
A Proud Case Alum.